Development of a Health Impact Assessment (HIA) Implementation Model: Enhancing Intersectoral Approaches in Tackling Health Inequalities

Image: Joyful and Active City © Si-Gal. This is also the cover image of the first book published on health impact assessment across the island of Ireland.

The HIA-IM (Development a Health Impact Assessment Implementation Model: Enhancing Intersectoral Approaches in Tackling health Inequalities) project is co-hosted in UCC between the School of Public Health and ISS21. Dr Monica O’Mullane is the Principal Investigator on this programme of research, with Dr Tara Kenny (Postdoctoral Researcher), Kirsty Nash (Research Assistant), Eibhlín Looney (Research Assistant on TRANSLATE-HIA), Caithlín Sheehan (Student Research Assistant) and Silvia Citzia (Erasmus + trainee) working on the team at various stages.

HIA-IM aims to strengthen intersectoral policy and practice in tackling health inequalities through the development of an enhanced HIA implementation model. The project has applied a research framework combining an action research design with implementation science frameworks to the process of two policy-level HIAs, with a view to creating an empirically based and theoretically informed HIA implementation model. The two HIAs include one at a local policy level, addressing the Cork City Development Plan (2022-2028), and a second at a national policy level, addressing the Irish Government’s Climate Action Plan (2024). A resource for engaging with communities in a HIA will also be created.

HIA-IM Project Funding & Dates

HIA-IM is funded by the Health Research Board Emerging Investigator for Health award held by Monica O’Mullane (grant number EIA-2022-001). The project runs from January 2023 to December 2027.

Project Team and Collaborators

HIA-IM includes colleagues from UCC including Professor Emeritus Ivan Perry, Dr Sheena McHugh, both from the School of Public Health. Dr Ger Mullally from the Department of Sociology & Criminology, and Professor Hannah Daly, Director of the BSc Sustainability, UCC., Dr Joanna Purdy (All Island Institute of Public Health) Professor Uduak Archibong (University of Bradford) and Dr Lisa Pursell (University of Galway) are members of the Steering Group with Sheena and Ger. Professor Katherine Smith (University of Strathclyde) and Professor Ivan Perry are mentors on the project.

Project collaborators include Bernie Connolly, Public Involvement collaborator (The Environmental Forum), Dr Ben Harris-Roxas (University of New South Wales), Dr Liz Green (Public Health Wales, HIA Support Unit), Ben Cave (BCA Insight Ltd), Karen O’Mahony (Cork City Council), Dr Ina Kelly (Health Service Executive Ireland- HSE), Dr Paul Kavanagh (Health Service Executive Ireland- HSE), Dr Sara Burke (Trinity College Dublin) and Tadhg O’Mahony (Environmental Protection Agency Ireland). A HIA-IM Public Involvement Consultation Group has been established for the project including Chair of the group, Bernie Connolly (The Environmental Forum), with Denise Cahill (Cork Healthy Cities), Hans Zomer (Global Action Plan), Karin Dubsky (Coast Watch Ireland), Nicola Meacle (Independent Living Group), and Colette Bennett (The Wheel).

Pictured: TRANSLATE-HIA research team at “Getting Going with Health Impact Assessment” knowledge translation event November 6th 2025. (left to right) Eibhlín Looney, Dr Monica O'Mullane, Dr Tara Kenny.

Pictured: HIA-IM research team in UCC, 30^th September 2024. (Left to right) Kirsty Nash, Monica O’Mullane and Tara Kenny.

 

Academic Publications

• O'Mullane, M.,  Kenny, T., Nash, K., McHugh, SM., Kavanagh, P., Smith, K. and Archibong, U. (2025)  ‘Development of a Health Impact Assessment Implementation Model: Enhancing Intersectoral Approaches in Tackling Health Inequalities-A Mixed Methods Study Protocol’ HRB Open Research Platform, 7, 14. DOI: 10.12688/hrbopenres.13873.3
• Kenny, T., Harris-Roxas, B., McHugh, S., Douglas, M., Green, L., Haigh, F., Purdy, J., Kavanagh, P., & O’Mullane, M. (2025). Routemap for health impact assessment implementation: scoping review using the consolidated framework for implementation research. Health Promotion International, 40(3). https://doi.org/10.1093/heapro/daaf080 
• O'Mullane, M., Kenny, T., Nash, K., Ryan, M., Fitzsimons, J., Connolly, B., Green, L., Purdy, J., Cave, B. and Harris-Roxas, B. (2025) Undertaking the first health impact assessment on a city development plan in Ireland: a case study. Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal. DOI: 10.1080/14615517.2025.2590854

A HRB Knowledge Translation Award (TRANSLATE-HIA) is supporting the HIA-IM Project

Title: Translating knowledge on Health Impact Assessment (HIA) to strengthen Health in All Policies (TRANSLATE-HIA)

TRANSLATE-HIA supports the translation of findings to policy and practice from HIA-IM and a strengthening of integrated knowledge translation capacity. HIA-IM is developing an implementation model based on the process of doing HIAs on local and national policies. TRANSLATE-HIA will pave the way for implementing this model into practice to strengthen Health in All Policies in Ireland.

Project Funding & Dates

TRANSLATE-HIA is funded by the Health Research Board Knowledge Translation Award (grant number KTA-2024-009). The project ran for sixteen months, from December 2024 to June 2026. The purpose of TRANSLATE-HIA is to share learnings from the HIA-IM project and to boost the policy and practice impact of HIA-IM’s findings.

Project Team and Collaborators

Dr Monica O’Mullane (PI), Dr Tara Kenny (Postdoctoral Researcher), Eibhlín Looney, Research Assistant, Bernie Connolly (The Environmental Forum), Dr Joanna Purdy (All Island Institute of Public Health) Dr Ger Mullally, Dr Sheena McHugh (UCC), Dr Margaret Douglas (Public Health Scotland), Dr Diarmuid O’Donovan (Health Improvement, HSE), Vinnie O’Shea (Slaintecare Healthy Communities Programme), and Leonora McConville (Sligo County Council).

 

Creating Policy Impact! Delivering an In-Person Policy Briefing

In April 2026, an in-person policy briefing to the Healthy Ireland team in the Department of Health, Dublin. Find out more here

 

Project Events

First “Getting Going with Health Impact Assessment” Event in Ireland

On 6th November around 60 people attended the first “Getting Going with Health Impact Assessment” knowledge translation event across the island of Ireland. The event was held in UCC and hosted as part of the TRANSLATE-HIA project, funded under the HRB Knowledge Translation Award 2024 scheme. Attendees from the HSE, NGOs, local authorities, private sector, and academic settings listened to presentations from Karen O’Mahony (Cork City Council), Johnny Liu (London Borough of Tower Hamlets), Dr Margaret Douglas (Public Health Scotland), and Dr Liz Green (Public Health Wales). A discussion session followed, facilitated by Denise Cahill, Coordinator of WHO Cork Healthy Cities. Professor Ella Arensman opened the event and Dr Monica O’Mullane presented an overview of HIA in Ireland, the purpose of HIA-IM project, along with implementation science informed findings. In the afternoon a World Café, facilitated by members of the TRANSLATE-HIA team, was held. Contributions from the World Café will inform the upcoming “Getting Going with HIA” Informational Resource.

Post-Event survey:

Looney, E., & O'Mullane, M. (2026). "Getting Going with Health Impact Assessment" Post Event Survey. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19098009

 

News:

https://www.ucc.ie/en/iss21/newsandevents/first-getting-going-with-health-impact-assessment-event-in-ireland.html

Recordings from presentations delivered by guest speakers at the “Getting Going with Health Impact Assessment” Event:

• Karen O'Mahony: https://media.heanet.ie/page/59b0be339f5c458d80cb7e927a119e18
• Johnny Lui: https://media.heanet.ie/page/cc78db3f4efe445a814d2ae0e978d438
• Dr Margaret Douglas: https://media.heanet.ie/page/e5313fce99ef4a2da32254bc048931b7
• Dr Liz Green: https://media.heanet.ie/page/d5dc955e6b5b4c63bce0232a8a3e868a

 

Video and short clips published on the HIA-IM findings, by the TRANSLATE-HIA project team!

 A HIA informational video has been created by the team, based on interviews with five members of the Steering Groups involved in both HIAs, namely the one on the Core Strategy of the Cork City Development Plan (2022-2028) and on the 2024 Climate Action Plan’s measure to expand the organic sector.

Members interviewed included Donal Sheehan (Blossom Farm, unaffiliated farmer), Andrew Sulley (National Environmental Health Service, HSE), Karen O’Mahony (Cork City Council), Darren McAdam-O’Connell (Transport & Mobility Forum) and Marian O’Reilly (Slaintecare Health Communities, HSE).

Sharing the experience of doing health impact assessment in Ireland. Video accessible at the following link: https://media.heanet.ie/page/df287b5566a04476b61006202b952ea4

Five short clips were created based on the interviews with five Steering Group members, reflecting on a number of points, such as the need for flexibility in HIA, importance of including the voice of people on the ground affected by policies, the perspective that HIA is a decision-making tool that can improve policies, programmes and projects, and the affirmation from the HIA of the significant impact strategic planning has on population health.

Karen O’Mahony- Sharing the experience of doing health impact assessment (HIA) in Ireland https://media.heanet.ie/page/aaa7f7edb152434c83d9be6170316edf

Marian O’Reilly- Sharing the experience of doing health impact assessment (HIA) in Ireland https://media.heanet.ie/page/48af1a59e8ea4d7d8f569087849f8c9d

Donal Sheehan- Sharing the experience of doing health impact assessment (HIA) in Ireland https://media.heanet.ie/page/cb4c9270fd5c43fbbfadf865af7ae84f

Darren McAdam-O’Connell- Sharing the experience of doing health impact assessment (HIA) in Ireland

https://media.heanet.ie/page/5362064b97d14c51b08da3035e027af8

Andrew Sulley- Sharing the experience of doing health impact assessment (HIA) in Ireland https://media.heanet.ie/page/b0bb0df21f06462b8f4cb7acc4ca2735

HIA Reports

HIA on the Core Strategy of the Cork City Development Plan (2022-2028)

• O'Mullane, M., Kenny, T., Nash, K., Ryan, M., O'Mahony, K. and Fitzsimons, J. (2024) 'Core Strategy of the Cork City Development Plan (CCDP) (2022-2028): a health impact assessment briefing'. Cork: University College Cork. https://doi.org/10.33178/10468/17694
• Nash, K. and O'Mullane, M. (2024) 'Report on the public engagement event for the HIA on the Core Strategy of the Cork City Development Plan (2022-2028)'. Cork: University College Cork. https://doi.org/10.33178/10468/16818
• O'Mullane, M., Kenny, T., Nash, K., Ryan, M., O'Mahony, K. and Fitzsimons, J. (2024) 'Report of the Health Impact Assessment on the Core Strategy of the Cork City Development Plan (2022-2028)'. Cork: University College Cork. https://doi.org/10.33178/10468/16851

HIA on the 2024 Climate Action Plan’s measure to expand the organic sector:

• O’Mullane, M., Kenny, T., Sulley, A., Brennan, M. M. and Sheehan, C. (2025) A Health Impact Assessment of the 2024 Climate Action Plan's Measure to Expand Ireland's Organic Sector. https://doi.org/10.33178/10468/18639
• O’Mullane, M., Kenny, T., Sulley, A., Brennan, M. M. and Sheehan, C. (2025) A Health Impact Assessment of the 2024 Climate Action Plan's Measure to Expand Ireland's Organic Sector: A Briefing. https://doi.org/10.33178/10468/18638

Recorded webinars

Webinars were held to share the findings and reflections from the two HIAs undertaken as part of HIA-IM. The recordings are available via the following weblinks:

• O'Mahony, K., O'Mahony, M., & O'Mullane, M. (2025, May 6). A Health Impact Assessment on the Cork City Development Plan (2022-2028) - Reflections on the Process [Video recording]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22083336
• Kenny, T., Sheehan, D., Connolly, B., & O'Mullane, M. (2026, June 12). Undertaking a health impact assessment on the 2024 Climate Action Plan's measure to expand the organic sector: Implications for Policy and Practice. [Video recording]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20668418

 

A Selection of Project Conference Poster & Presentations:

• Looney, E., Kenny, T., & O’Mullane, M. (2026). ‘Building Health Equity Strategies for Policy Change: Creating a Getting Going with Health Impact Assessment Informational Resource with Co-Produced Input’ [Poster]. Zenodo. Health Promotion Annual Conference 2026, Promoting Wellbeing through Equity: Social and Structural Determinants of Health, 25^th June 2026. University of Galway, University of Galway, Ireland. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21279706
• Nash, K. and O’Mullane, M. (2024) ‘Fostering Meaningful Community Engagement in Health Impact Assessment,’ presented at the Irish Global Health Network Conference - Fostering Humanity: Promoting Health Equity for a Better Planet on 3rd October 2024, Dublin, Ireland. Zenodo. 10.5281/zenodo.19594135.
• O’Mullane, M., Kenny, T. and Ryan, M. (2025) ‘From Plans to Health Equity: Cork City's Pioneering Health Impact Assessment (HIA) Journey,’ presented at the presentation International Health Impact Assessment Conference, 4th June 2025 in Madrid, Spain. Zenodo. 10.5281/zenodo.19528529
• O’Mahony, K., Ryan, M., Fitzsimons, J., O’Connor, K., Kenny, T. and O’Mullane, M. (2025) ‘Carrying out the first Health Impact Assessment on a statutory development plan in Ireland: Creating healthier cities and communities that promote inclusive economic growth and social development,’ presented at the 9th Healthy City Design 2025 International Congress on the 14^th October 2025 at The Lowry in MediaCity, Salford, Greater Manchester, England, UK. Zenodo. 10.5281/zenodo.20484463. 
• Kenny, T., Brennan, M.M., Sulley, A. and O’Mullane, M. (2026) ‘Farmer perspectives on transitioning to organic systems: a case study from the Republic of Ireland,’ presented at the LEAP Conference held on 22^nd April 2026 at Oxford University, England, UK. Zenodo. 10.5281/zenodo.19814094.

 

Published project conference abstracts

2024:

• Kenny, T., M. O’Mullane, K. Nash, B. Harris-Roxas, P. Kavanagh, S. McHugh, and L. Green. 2024. 'Realising the health benefits of a City Development Plan in Ireland: The process and influence of HIA', European Journal of Public Health, 34
• Nash, K., T. Kenny, M. O’Mullane, and B. Harris-Roxas. 2024. 'Developing a community engagement toolkit for health impact assessment in Ireland', European Journal of Public Health, 34

2023:

• O'Mullane, M, J Purdy, L Pursell, U Archibong, and S McHugh. (2023) 'A theoretical framework for developing a health impact assessment implementation model in Ireland', European Journal of Public Health, 33.

Media articles related to the project

Power, Amy (2024) ‘Public asked to share ‘lived experience’ in Cork city health impact assessment’, 16^th April 2024. Evening Echo. https://www.echolive.ie/corknews/arid-41375170.html

 

Contact

For more information on HIA-IM, please contact Monica O'Mullane (m.omullane@ucc.ie).

Project Logo

Many thanks to Stuart Coughlan (edit+) for the project logos.

Updated September 2026